Name-plate



No. 620,4l9. Patented Feb. 28, I899. W. H. CLARK & L. J. WATTSON.

NAME PLATE.

(Application filed Dec. 80, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM H. CLARK AND LLEWELLYN JOSEPH VATTSON, OF SAN FRAN- CISCO, CALIFORNIA.

NAM E-PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,419, dated February 28, 1899.

Application filed December 30, 1898. Serial No. 700,736. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM H. CLARK and LLEWELLYN JOSEPH WATTSON, of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Name-Plates,of which the followingis a full,clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a self-locking name-plate for church-pews, but which may be adapted for other purposes,and to so construct the device that while a base and a display member are employed adapted for locking engagement no means will be visible whereby the two parts may be disconnected.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and durable construction for locking name-plates and means whereby the members of said plates may be disconnected through the medium of a key, but without necessitating the keyhole appearing at the front of the plate. 7

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is afront elevation of the improved plate. Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the rear section of the plate. Fig. 3 is a section taken practically on the line 3 3 of Fig.2, the front plate being in place; and Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the front section of the plate, a portion of the frame being broken away.

The body of the device consists of a frame A, that is adapted for attachment to a pew or other object and which may be termed a base-frame, and a display-frame B, arranged for locking engagement with the base frame. The base-frame A is provided with a beveled margin 10, the inclination being downward and outward, and the base-frame A is usually secured to its support through the medium of lugs 12, formed integral with the inner edges of its end portions, said lugs At what may be termed the lower portion of the base-frame A a spring Ois located, and this spring extends from end to end of the frame, being preferably bowed at its center, as shown in Fig. 2. The ends of the spring 0 are secured in any suitable or approved manner in brackets or bearings 14, forming a portion of the inner surface of the frame. A bolt 15 is secured to the central portion of the spring 0, and the said bolt is made to pass through a suitable opening in the portion of the frame adjacent to which the spring is located, as is shown in Figs. 2 and 3. An opening 16 is made in .one end of the frame, leading into the interior thereof, the opening being so placed that it is between the spring 0 and the portion of the frame adjacent to which the spring is placed. This opening is adapted to receive a key 17, the inner end whereof is preferably provided with a beveled or inclined surface 18, as is also shown in Fig. 2, and the said key is usually in the shape of a rod, having a suitable handle thereon. The spring 0 normally forces the bolt 15 beyond the outer surface of the base-frame A, but the said bolt is carried partially within the frame, or so that its outer end does not extend beyond the outer face of the frame, through the medium of the said key 17, whichwhen introduced into the opening 16in the base-frame and through an apertured guide-lug 19, located within the frame, will force the spring 0 inward by reason of the inner end of the key wedging itself between the spring and adjacent surface of the frame. The beveled surface 18 is given to the inner end of the key to facilitate the face of the saidpane, as shown in Fig. 3.

The transparent pane and the card 24 are held in position Within the display-frame preferably through the medium of a thumbspring 25, which is shown in Fig. 4 and consists of a piece of spring material bent upon itself to form an open loop the ends whereof are flattened, and the extremities of the material are upturned to produce handles 26, the handles facing one another. The fiattened ends of the thumb-spring are arranged to enter recesses 27, made in the inner face of the display-frame. It will be readily observed that the thumb-spring when in position in the display-frame will securely hold the transparent pane and card in place; but the said card and transparent pane may be removed at any time from the display-frame by simply drawing the handles 26 of the thumb-spring together, disconnecting the spring from the frame. The display-frame is provided at one end with a recess 1), adapt ed to register with the keyhole 16 in the baseframe.

In the operation of the device, the displayframe having been removed from the baseframe and the key taken from the latter frame, by causing the recesses 20 in the display-frame to receive the lugs 11 ofthe baseframe and pressing the display-frame firmly upon the base-frame the bolt 15 will at once enter the recess 21 and effect a locking engagement between the two frames, and this locking engagement can be disturbed only when a suitable key is passed into the base.

Having thus described our invention, We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a name-plate or like device, a displayframe provided with an inwardly-extending flange at its front margin, a transparent pane in engagement with the said flange, said frame being provided with opposing recesses in its inner surface, and a thumb-spring consisting of spring material bent upon itself to form an open loop, the ends of the material of the loop terminating in opposing handles, the ends of the loop proper being adapted to enter the said recesses, as described.

2. In a name-plate, the combination of a base-frame provided at one side with a lug, a bowed spring located at the other side of the base -frame and having each end secured thereto, a bolt attached to an intermediate portion of the spring and projecting through an opening in the base-frame, the springserving normally to project the bolt, and the baseframe being formed with guides for the movement of a key to push the spring back, and a display-frame adapted to engage with the lug and bolt of the base-frame, whereby to removably hold the display-frame on the baseframe.

3. In a name-plate, the combination of a base-frame, a spring having each end secured to the frame, a bolt carried by an intermediate portion of the spring and normally projected by the same, and a display-frame adapted to engage the base-frame and to be held by the bolt.

4-. In a name-plate, the combination of a base-frame, provided at one side with a lug and at the other side with means for guiding a sliding key, a spring located near said guiding means and having its ends secured to the frame, a bolt carried by an intermediate portion of the frame and normally projected by the same, the spring being adapted to be pushed back by the key, and a display-frame adapted to engage the lug on the'base-frame and to be held by the bolt.

WM. H. CLARK. LLEWELLYN JOSEPH WAT'lSON.

Witnesses:

J OHN J. BARRETT, Gno. F. SCHWARZ. 

